ANZPT Sydney: Rowe on the radar

As poker reporters we do our very best to cover as much action in the tournament as humanly possible, but unfortunately we're not omnipresent and we do very occasionally miss some action. That's why we love it when we we're wandering tables and get stopped by friendly railbirds who share with us an interesting story that we might have missed. It makes our job a lot easier!

So a shout out to my new mate on the rail who stopped me to let me know about the recent adventures of 2008 APPT Sydney champion Martin Rowe.

To be honest, Martin Rowe is a tricky man to spot. He's a no-nonsense, no-fanfare, regular kinda guy. Dressed in a casual shirt and low fitting cap, he easily flies completely under the radar. We've struggled to pick him up in this big field but he's starting to make some noise now after eliminating an opponent much to the delight of his tablemates.

As our friend on the rail recalled, it all started a few hands earlier. Apparently the player in question had only showed down the nuts all day before Rowe arrived at the table and the two tangled in a big hand. It was a three-bet pot and a nine-high board, as Rowe sustained a flop check-raise and a couple of barrels on the turn and river with just a pair of eights which was somehow good enough to defeat Mr.Nit who was firing with air.

Mr.Nit then turned into Mr.Tilt and a few hands later overbet shoved all in from the small blind into Rowe's big blind - seemingly in an attempt at extracting some revenge. Rowe snuck a look at his hole cards and instantly called with J♣J♠ to be well ahead of his opponent's 7♣8♣.

We felt a bad beat coming but it didn't happen as the board ran out 9♠K♠4♣Q♥3♣ to see Mr.Tilt head to the nearest exit as Rowe moved up to a very healthy 160,000.

Since his million dollar win in 2008, Rowe only has a couple of other results to his credit from a limited playing schedule, but perhaps this will be the event that sees Rowe return to the top. At the moment he has 115 other players standing in the way of himself and the exclusive APPT+ANZPT winners club as we approach the end of Level 12.